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"I reached out to people that I knew disliked him to see if they even heard that hot goss.
They had not heard that," Sapp said.
The situation mirrored previous unverified claims regarding a potential pay cut, which were similarly dismissed by personnel across the promotion.
"Like, it was news to them when I brought it up. Like we approached the pay cut rumors, all that stuff.
Just nobody was buying it. So if it’s true, people in WWE just had not heard it.
It’s always possible. It’s true," Sapp said.
Despite the lack of verified friction, WWE management acknowledged that keeping Punk off television for this duration departed from their original scheduling format.
"I will say, usually CM Punk news gets out there pretty swiftly, but him being off this long was definitely not the plan," Sapp said.
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The performer remained excluded from official promotional previews for the Allstate Arena event in Chicago, despite prior social media advertisements from the venue confirming his scheduled appearance.
